The Mid-Coast Region Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Mid-Coast Region - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Mid-Coast Region - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
At the end of Harpswell Neck—next to the Dolphin Marina, where diners often arrive by boat—this popular restaurant serves one of the best fish chowders on the coast. Take in the excellent views through a wall of windows or from the outdoor deck as you enjoy your equally excellent chowder—or your lobster stew, crab or lobster roll, or chicken or beef entrée.
Although everything served at this seafood shack and market beside Fish Beach is delicious and simply prepared, the crab roll—a large, split-top roll buttered and griddled and stuffed with fresh, sweet, mayo-tossed crabmeat—may just be the best on the Maine coast. Order at the window, carry your tray to a picnic table inches from the water, and lap up the view of lobster boats in the harbor. You can also have your order packed to go.
Drive to the end of Route 127 and relax in the breezes off Sheepscot Bay in the tiny fishing village of Five Islands, not too far from Reid State Park. This award-winning lobster shack overlooks at least five islands from its perch atop the working wharf, and you can watch lobstermen unload their traps onto the dock while you feast on fresh lobster rolls or a full lobster dinner and sample Maine-made ice cream. If you've got a big craving for lobster, order the Big Boy lobster roll, with double the amount of meat in a large roll. The “secret” to the famous tartar sauce is dill. This is a BYOB place, so bring a cooler with your preferred beverages, settle at a picnic table, and enjoy the sublime setting.
The customers lined up beside this little red shack at the bottom of Wiscasset's Main Street, just before the bridge across the Sheepscot River, have come from far and wide for one of the Maine Coast's best lobster rolls—namely, a perfectly buttered and griddled split-top roll that's absolutely, positively stuffed with fresh, sweet meat and served with melted butter and mayo on the side. Devotees swear that the wait (up to two hours!) is worth it, and it helps that staffers hand out ice water, popsicles, umbrellas to protect from rain or hot sun, and even dog biscuits for the pups. You can also get your lobster in a gluten-free roll or on a plate without any bread. Other choices include crab rolls, hamburgers, and onion rings, as well as clams or other local seafood fried in house-made batters. Enjoy your hard-earned feast at a table on the bilevel deck behind the shack or at a picnic table on the grass by the water. For a shorter wait, come on a weekday at an off hour (not lunch or dinner time).
The namesake of this shack first got the idea to set up shop when her father posed the simple question: “Where can you buy a quick lobster roll in Boothbay Harbor?” Unable to answer, Shannon’s Unshelled was born, and the shack is now beloved for its grilled, buttered buns stuffed with whole lobsters and served with a side of garlicky, sea-salted, drawn butter.
Try for a table by the windows in the small dining room of this little landmark restaurant, perched beside Pemaquid Lighthouse at the very edge of the rocky shore. Blueberry pancakes with Maine maple syrup are the clear breakfast favorites; the lunch and dinner menu features fried fresh seafood, lobster and crab rolls, salads, and mouthwatering entrées like the shipwreck pie (lobster, crab, shrimp, and scallops sautéed in butter and topped with a cracker-crumb crust). Desserts include ice cream and homemade pies or strawberry or blueberry shortcake. Alcoholic beverages aren't served, but you're welcome to bring your own. The gift shop is packed jewelry, Maine-made jams and condiments, prints of local scenery, and other great souvenirs.
This is the real deal—a working lobster wharf where fishermen unload their catch to be sold at the on-site fish market or incorporated into the lobster rolls, crab rolls, or fried seafood dishes that are served to diners on the dock and in the enclosed dining room. If you opt for the steamed lobster dinner, you get to choose your crustacean from a saltwater tank. There's live music every Friday and weekends. And if you're an oyster fan, head here for your fill of buck-a-shuck oysters Friday and Saturday evening. The view across the boat-filled harbor isn't bad, either.
What began as a lobster shack in 1955 has grown into a large, well-known, family-style restaurant with a sizable menu that is predictably heavy on local seafood (lobster boats unload their catch at a dock here) but also has plenty of choices for landlubbers. A shore dinner will set you back close to $50, but you won't leave hungry after a 1¼-pound lobster, steamed clams, drawn butter, and corn on the cob. If you want to focus just on the lobster, you can order a bug weighing up to 5 pounds! Whether you choose indoor or deck seating, you can watch as the lobstermen come and go and the boats sail across the bay. Expect this place to be packed at the height of the season.
People have been stopping at this roadside lobster pound for a century, buying live or cooked lobsters to take home, or ordering a lobster or crabmeat roll, lobster stew, lobster dinner, steamed or fried fresh clams, and other local seafood to enjoy at a picnic table overlooking a serene salt marsh. It's just a few miles down the road from Freeport's Main Street shops, but it feels a world apart.
You just might want to eat dessert first when you spy the display case of cheesecakes, mousses, and profiteroles. But there are lots of savory temptations, too, including a large selection of sushi, tacos (lobster, shrimp, octopus, or haddock), and land and sea dinner entrées. There's no outdoor dining, but the outer dining room has windows overlooking the harbor.
Take a break from Main Street's bustle and drive 3 scenic miles to South Freeport, where this popular, bare-bones, counter-service place sits beside the town landing and serves up seafood baskets and lobster dinners. Save room for strawberry shortcake, blueberry crisp, bread pudding, whoopie pies, or another of the homemade desserts. Lines can be long.
You know that the lobster and other seafood is fresh at this quintessential shack, just east of Tenants Harbor and at the end of a scenic, winding shoreside byway—the owner's family owns the wholesale lobster company on the next wharf over, where local lobstermen tie up to deliver their catches. In addition to generously stuffed lobster rolls, the menu usually includes crab rolls, crab cakes, grilled clams, and a couple of nonseafood items. Save room for a slice of freshly baked pie or a whoopie pie. Order at the window, and settle at a picnic table with broad, serene views of the bay, islands, and the working harbor. This is a BYOB place, with regulars often interpreting the "B" to mean not only a bottle of wine, but also a bouquet of flowers in a jar or maybe a birthday cake.
The food here is guaranteed to be fresh, given that the lobster comes in off the boats just down the dock from the window where you order your meal. The menu also features scallops, oysters, crabmeat, and haddock, all prepared in a variety of tempting ways. Watch the lobstermen unload their catch as you enjoy your seafood feast, and perhaps a beer or a glass of wine. Note that though this is a seafood shack, prices are comparable to those in more formal restaurants.
On Southport Island, across an old-fashioned swing bridge from Boothbay Harbor and overlooking the waters of Townsend Gut, this lively local favorite often has waits for its tables on summer weekends. Head inside or sit at a picnic table out on the dock, where you can watch lobstermen deliver their catch while enjoying a lunch or dinner featuring one of the well-prepared seafood dishes, many of them fried. There's live music on Friday and Saturday afternoon.
This tiny, no-frills cook shack, operated by the lobstermen's co-op, is the place to come for a simple, old-fashioned feed, featuring fairly priced, cooked-to-order lobsters and steamers with corn on the cob and a few other sides. You're welcome to BYOB, soft beverages, and even other dishes or desserts to round out your meal. Roll up your sleeves, and dive into your feast at a picnic table while you enjoy views of Round Pond harbor.
At this old-fashioned lobster pound beside the water in New Harbor, you can choose from a large menu of coastal classics—shore dinners, fried shellfish dinners, seafood rolls, broiled fish and shellfish, and chowders. There are grilled steaks, too, and you can go all in with a surf-and-turf combo of rib eye and lobster tail. Sit in the upstairs dining room or out on the deck overlooking a true working harbor. The Hardy Boat cruise to Monhegan leaves from the adjacent dock.
Shuck Station may be in a repurposed gas station, with umbrella-topped tables set on gravel beside a busy road, but its exquisite oysters elevate the dining experience here. Pull up a stool at the raw bar, and mix and match a dozen on the half-shell from various Maine oyster farms to compare the sweetness and brine. Or choose oysters Rockefeller or baked oysters with maple barbecue sauce. The menu also has fried shellfish baskets and other fishy dishes, as well as salads, fried chicken, and burgers. A well-chosen wine list focuses on what pairs well with oysters, and there are several Maine craft beers on draft. There's live music on Thursday and Sunday.
Just across the road from Red's, Sprague's serves excellent lobster rolls, too. Indeed, many locals prefer to come here—though the rolls aren't quite as stuffed as at Red's, they usually cost a couple of dollars less, and the waits are not nearly as long.
Whether you dine outside on the long, narrow dock, or inside, you'll enjoy the view, the vibe, and the food at this popular summertime eatery on Pemaquid Harbor. The fish tacos and fried-oyster tacos are exceptional, as are the lobster club sandwich, Korean barbecue smoked chicken, and the pizza. Order locally raised oysters from the raw bar, and try the fish tartare, especially if it's tuna. There's live music a couple of evenings each week.
You'll find the Dip Net behind the Port Clyde General Store, on a deck overlooking the harbor. Sit at a picnic table inside an enclosure or out in the sunshine and enjoy such local treats as fried oysters, lobster (of course), crab cakes, and fresh fish. There are good landlubber choices, too.
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